In many industrial and clinical environments, it would be desirable to deliver a gas-enriched fluid to a site of interest. For example, in industrial applications it would be desirable to deliver carbon dioxide rapidly via a liquid transfer medium to a fire in order to extinguish the flame without the carbon dioxide becoming prematurely liberated from its dissolved state in the transfer medium. As another exampled the environmental problems of a toxic site cleanup may be ameliorated if a neutralizing or cleansing gaseous agent is delivered rapidly and at high concentration by a transporting medium into the area which requires cleansing.
In clinical applications, as has been disclosed in my previous patent applications referenced above, it would be highly desirable to treat patients, for example stroke victims, by having ready access to a system which would deliver an oxygen-enriched blood stream rapidly to the anatomical area where the need for oxygen enrichment is most acute.
For simplicity and brevity, the examples discussed below are primarily selected from clinical environments, although the applicability of the concepts and needs to be discussed to non-clinical, including industrial, environments will be apparent to those of skill in the art.
In the clinical area, if oxygen-supersaturated blood prematurely liberates oxygen at the wrong place and at the wrong time, an embolism may result. Its adverse consequences are well-known. For example, the stroke victim may experience a sudden attack of weakness affecting one side of the body as a consequence of an interruption to the flow of blood to the brain. The primary problem may be located in the heart or blood vessels. The effect on the brain is secondary. Blood flow may be prevented by clotting (thrombosis), a detached clot that lodges in an artery (embolus), or by rupture of an artery wall (hemorrhage). In any event, a severe interruption to the rate of mass transfer of oxygen-enriched blood occurs if laminar flow becomes disturbed by bubble formation and its consequent turbulent flow characteristics.
Ideally, the physician should be able to administer an oxygen-enriched, supersaturated blood flow in a laminar fashion quickly to a site of interest without premature liberation of oxygen after it leaves a delivery apparatus, and undergoes a pressure drop before arrival at the site requiring treatment.
What therefore is needed is a method and apparatus available to the physician and industrialist which will enable them to deliver gas-enriched fluids into environments of interest without premature formation of bubbles in the transferring medium.
In the past, the main objections to the clinical use of hyperbaric oxygen have been the risk of hemolysis and bubble emboli, together with the complexity of the equipment. Dawids and Engell, PHYSIOLOGICAL AND CLINICAL ASPECTS OF OXYGENATOR DESIGN, "Proceedings On Advances In Oxygenator Design", June 1975, p. 140, note that attempts to use oxygen at higher pressures call for the blood to be pumped into the high pressure area where it is exposed to the oxygen and then throttled down to normal pressure. These workers note that such operations have caused considerable hemolysis, which is more pronounced as the gas pressure increases. Additionally, bubble formation may occur as a result of a rapid pressure decrease and the high velocities in the throttling region. Id.